and I'm going to start

After a long weekend with family camping {pictures to come}, capped off by Yom Kippur it was hard to go into work today. Especially on 6 hours of sleep broken into two hour stretches - staying up late, seeing my little sis off to the airport to go back to Israel, then seeing my parents off on their drive home. It was a full weekend. Now I'm home with an overly quiet home and it's only 8pm. I was seriously debating heading to bed super early, but with a little blog inspiration I've decided to pull out my machine and start piecing the squares I'd cut out last week. I'm really starting on this quilt!! Yay!

{In other news, I'm participating in my first "block party". With 11 other women we'll be making quilt blocks for each other over the next year. I'm month 9! Ooooo, can't wait. It'll be fun to sew for others and have them sew for me.}

{ps. sorry for the lack of photos!}

little bits of daily life

Fall is really here. I really felt it went I walked home yesterday. The air just felt different and the sun was much lower. Granted, I was almost an hour late due to a collision on the tracks before my evening commute. But still, the sun just feels different! Even this morning I can tell the angle has changed - moved more toward fall.

And now, a post in list form because that's what you're getting...

- A couple weeks ago I sewed up a circle skirt from a "vintage" bed sheet. I'd had it cut out for over a year in the hopes that it would become the bottom of a dress. I was following a tutorial and everything. But, when I saw how much time had gone by I just did a quick seem up the side, inserted a zipper, a couple darts for fit and called it a day. And, I got to use my rolled hem foot for my new sewing machine! I love it. I can't stop looking at the professional looking hem every time I wear the skirt. {hopefully, picture to come soon. Been meaning to blog this but the lack of picture was holding me up.}

- I've got my pieces cut for the quilt I've been thinking up and planning. Can't wait to see how this comes together. A bit nervous about the thought of machine quilting, but I know I'll just jump right in when I get to that point. Some day soon, hopefully, there will be pictures of completed blocks to share.

- Fall means the Jewish new year - Rosh Hashana. It means apples and honey. Signing songs and prayers to melodies used once a year. I got really nostalgic sitting in services. In my mind I could clearly picture being squashed in one seat with my friend Rosy. I got choked up when the choir sang the song that always makes my mom cry. I met the nicest woman and sat with her at both services. And even though I had just met her we connected and it made the services so much better and more meaningful. I think she felt it too.

- Tomorrow my family comes down. I get to see my little sister who is living in Israel! So excited. Family camping trip this weekend in the beautiful Big Sur coast. And then the fam will be here through Yom Kippur and my sister will head back to Israel.

And that's the list... you've gotten it!

little brown house

When I saw these little houses I started falling in love. Aren't they just darling? Now looking back on them I wish I'd chosen some more colorful fabrics for mine. Oh, well this wont be my last.

I was excited when I saw that See Katie Sew had made up a little free pattern for a house. I just had to try it.

This was my first time ever doing any paper piecing and... I loved it. It was a bit tricky at first to think of the direction I should put my fabric {only messed up once}. And getting the size of the pieces large enough for the parts around the roof that are at an angle.

Now I've got to think what I want to do with this little square. Hmmmm, maybe make some more little houses and make a quilt? Quilted pot holder? Any ideas?

sunshine sunshine

I was walking home the other afternoon with giant sunflowers peaking out of my grocery bag. Three big ones for $2 - a good deal. As I went past the car dealerships there was a woman sitting in her car with the door open. She saw me coming and her eyes looked onto the flowers from half a block away. I smiled as I got closer to her thinking she would smile back and I would walk on.

"Those are some big sunflowers you have there," she said. "Beautiful." I agreed, slowing down my fast pace home. "When I was a little girl my father had planted rows of these in the backyard. I remember watching them through the day." She moved her hand mimicking the movement of the yellow petaled heads. "They followed the sun across the sky each day." Sun flowers.

Sunshine in a vase sitting on my kitchen table. They lasted over a week - my little piece of sunshine.

Sloping with Heather Ross

Gosh, I've been meaning to write this little post for a week now. {and suddenly I've got 3 posts in one week!} Last Thursday I went into work super early so that I could leave early to head over the hill. I rushed home and quickly changed out of my work clothes and into jeans and a t-shirt - thinking it would be much cooler closer to the water. Boy was I wrong! It was stifling hot in Santa Cruz, but for the most part I didn't notice so much.

Instead, I was having a blast enjoying a pattern drafting class put on by Heather Ross. I've had a thing for her fabrics for a little while now and snatched up her book when it came out. So, I was pretty excited to get to meet her in real life. This was actually my first class on anything sewing related. Wow, I hadn't thought of that till just now. Em thought me everything I know about sewing, but I haven't taken any formal classes. It was so much fun to meet a great group of women all interested in the same thing I am. We laughed together, learned together, and encouraged each other. Plus, Heather taught a great class. She's just as funny in person as she is on her blog. And totally a "real" person. Does that make any sense?

Anyways, I had a great time {and learned how to make a skirt sloper}. Heather signed my book and even let me take my picture with her. {yes, I'm a dork!}

{ps. Please ignore my shinny face in the picture. Remember I mentioned that it was hot hot!}

{pps. Unrelated, but go check out this great give away. 16 pretty pretty fat quarters!}

I knew him when

I've been having fun day dreaming of this phrase lately. I knew Lukas when he wasn't a world famous photographer. Well, ok he isn't quite the world famous photographer yet but my day dreaming has been inspired by his creation of a website dedicated to his photography.

I can truthfully say I am more than proud of him. Really, I seem to be telling everyone that will listen about his work. {Remember this post about his book?} Maybe some day it'll pay off.

So, please go check out his website -

Lukas Wenger Photography.

{ps. see that little pouch hanging on the side of his leg? Filter case put to good use.

To Tahoe we went

"Megan, time to get up." I heard through my sleep haze. "Really?" I asked, because it felt like I hadn't slept at all. I had only gotten to bed around 11pm and now it was the wee hours of the morning and I was being told to "get up". Slowly I remembered that we were leaving early for Tahoe and I had to wake up. Lukas was quite persistent and I'm not the best at waking up.

So we left way before the sun came up. The roads were clear and we were off on our adventure. The plan was to beat the sun to Tahoe and catch the sun rise. And in that respect we were successful, but the sun rise was bland due to lack of clouds and we were beat from the middle of the night driving.

After watching the sun come up over Emerald Bay we checked out Eagle Falls and then went to find some breakfast. I could have fallen asleep right in my avocado omelet. To kill time before we could check into the hotel we drove up to Zephyr Cove but balked at paying to go into the resort area. We found a shady spot to park and napped a bit.

It turned out we ended up checking into our motel early - thank goodness! Our motel was nice, but a little on the odd side. The tiny room came standard with a fridge and microwave. We had fun hitting golf balls down the little "putting green" while waiting for our room to be cleaned. We liked the place.

That night we went back out to watch the sunset from Kiva Beach. It turned out spectacular. There were a few clouds in the sky. After the sun sunk below the horizon the clouds exploded with color.

For the next sunrise we went back to Eagle Falls. The sunrise Sunday was a bit better for colors in the sky. From the lower falls I looked out over Emerald Bay and just enjoyed the simple quite of the morning. A full night sleep definitely helped me appreciate the beauty around me.

Sunset was spent at Sand Habor, after some intense exploring to find Bonsai Rock. Seriously, we did some driving back and forth on one little stretch of road. Followed by one little hike down and up a hill. And finally, sliding down a cliff that filled our shoes with dirt and allowed me to eat a bunch of dust. A few pictures later we dragged our bums up the cliff and went to Sand Habor.

Here we enjoyed the sun setting behind some super round rocks. The lake was quite turbulent. Lukas enjoyed some "rebel" rock hopping in his Bogs.

On our last sunrise we headed back to Bonsai Rock and climbed down by the way of the moon light. Hoped over some round rocks - slow going 'cause I really, really didn't want to fall. Again, the sunrise wasn't anything to write home about but Lukas got some good shots anyways.

The drive home was quite loooooong due to extensive holiday traffic that we had missed going there by leaving so gosh darn early. We did have a very nice stop over with Lukas's uncle and aunt in Lincoln. It was a much needed break from the car and we had fun spending some time with Denny and Tessie.

Now the week is already half over!